Seoul Theatre

This weekend a co-worker of mine invited me to see a production she was part of, called “Love Recipe”. It was my first non-professional musical that I’ve seen here and it was so fun to watch! The cast was having a great time on the stage and even though I didn’t understand all the jokes, it was very enjoyable.

It got me thinking that I have actually seen a lot of theatre in Seoul, so I thought I’d share my experiences with you :).

A free dance recital, downtown Seoul over Chuseok.

Some bigger productions that I’ve seen are: Les Miserables (in Korean!), Wicked, Phantom of the Opera and the Nutcracker. I absolutely loved each of these. The prices are not outrageous for world-renown shows such as these. I think a tickets for the balcony are 50-70,000 won and the best seats might cost 150,000 won (under $150). We went to see these shows at either the Seoul Arts Centre or Blue Square theatre. The quality of the show is amazing. I saw ‘Wicked’ in Toronto and Seoul and the second time was just as good, if not better (because I knew all the songs ^^).

The girls at Phantom!

These days there are tons of English musicals being adapted into Korean. For example, Les Mis had the exact same music and story line, just the words to the songs were different! I have seen advertisements for Bonny and Clyde, Hairspray and Jersey Boys in Korean. Personally, I think it’s incredible how they can translate songs still with keeping the same tune and meaning.

There are many smaller theatre companies which provide non-verbal shows, such as Nanta, Bibap, and Fanta-stick. Many of these shows include b-boy dancers, and since Korea has some of the best b-boys and b-girls in the world, these shows are unbelievable!

The Ballerina who feel in love with a B-Boy. A must-see!

I would definitely recommend any kind of dance show, and Nanta is also fantastic. The non-verbal shows are great for an international audience, but the few shows I’ve seen in Korean are very easy to follow along with.

These kinds of shows are great for getting involved with Seoul’s modern culture, however there are many traditional performances as well. I’ve stumbled upon many stages with women in hanbok singing or dancing or drumming. It’s always been by chance, except when my Mom came to visit we attended the Andong Mask Festival which is held every fall. These performances were all free and are usually held at festivals with awesome street food :)!

Andong Mask Festival, held every fall.

Those are just a tiny snippet of what is actually available in this city. You could probably go to a new show every night of the week if you wanted to! I didn’t mention concerts and dance festivals and that kind of thing because that is a whole other blog post!

Overall, theatre in Seoul is amazing quality, abundant and relatively cheap. I really want to go to more shows so when I do I’ll keep you updated. 🙂

Our class at the LATT Children’s Theatre.

how to be Korea cute

Do you love adorable, random cuteness? Who doesn’t!? If you’re in Korea, you’re in the perfect spot to be bombarded with it daily.

I think there must be a rule that all stationary, pillows, and any kind of container must have one of the following: a face, ears or cute Konglish sayings. Honestly, my pencil case looks like a 3-year-old’s toy box.

My white-out and tape measure. See? Not kidding.

Some other things that are often over-the-top cutesie in Korea:

Glasses and jewelry

Hair accessories

Everything’s gotta be ears or bows.

T-shirts and sweatshirts

Not sure if my shirt says Your, Tour, or Jour. Any guesses?

Anything from Daiso.

Daiso is a Japanese dollar store. I think a lot of the cutie-pie trend originated in Japan but Korea has totally made it its own.

My dad and sister LOVED their cute Daiso purchases when they visited!

Konglish – signs, advertisements, stationary, cafe walls – they’re all full of it! But Konglish (Korean that has been poorly translated into English) really needs its own blog post.

Phone apps – not just photo-editing, which I’ve mentioned before. Every game, background screen and emoticon is hilarious and adorable.

Kakao emoticons are the best! Facebook stickers are catching up though!

Koreans have perfected the art of cuteness, and they even have a name for it! ‘Aegyo’ is a style of acting, dressing and posing to seem cuter than you actually are. This is not just for girls, as you can see below ;)!

There are people who are professionals at this who are called ‘Ulzzang’. Ulzzang are people who post tons of photos of themselves on the internet and some become internet celebrities for…. looking like they have big eyes (?!? somebody help me out here).

The point of this picture? Not tooooo sure.

Korea is ALL about random quirkiness, even though it is quite a conservative culture. I think that since Koreans have such an intense work ethic that having cute things and being cute is a way for them to release some of their inner quirkiness. People really dress up for work and dress professionally but after hours, the inner quirky-loving side comes out and makes everyone’s life a bit more loveable and liveable.

Personally I love all of the accessories and clothes… it’s just that after I buy them I can never bring myself to wear them out in public!! Those are my two cents, thanks for reading and good luck with being ‘Korea cute ;)’!

a few highlights

HI!!! Wow, it has been 6 months since I last wrote a blog… and what a 6 months it has been!

I don’t really know where to start with this so I’ll just jump into my summer vacation! Over June, July and a bit of August I was lucky enough to travel through 3 countries in South East Asia. Here are a few highlights from each:

Thailand!

Stayed with Jess for a week in Phuket!

Amazing fire shows on Koh Phi Phi!

Phranang Beach – the most gorgeous beach EVER! Railay, Krabi province.

Smell something tasty little guy? Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai.

View from the top of an elephant! 2-day trekking trip from Chiang Mai.

Taking a motorbike around Pai!

Met Helen in Bangkok and got to travel together for about 2 weeks :)!

Cambodia!

Sunset and sunrise at the Angkor temples.

Banyon temple, Angkor. 1,000 year old temple, NBD!

Some more of Cambodia – relaxing in Kampot, visiting some caves and mass graves at Choeung Ek.

Khmer BBQ in Phnom Penh with some lovely people 🙂

Vietnam!

Riding bikes through islands near Hoi An.

Awesome snorkelling off of Nha Trang!

So much amazing food (and company ^^) in Ho Chi Minh City!

So those were some of the highlights from the past few months! It was an incredible trip and if you have me on facebook you can see/read a lot more about it there :)! I was so fortunate to be able to go on this incredible journey and I am so happy to share it with you!

I’ve just started a new school year as a Grade 2 teacher and it has gotten off to a great start! If things continue this way I think I will be able to get back to blogging because I haven’t been so stressed about work. Hopefully you will read a lot more from me soon :)! Bye for now! x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013 favourites

After writing over 50 posts, I have a whole 16 people following me :)! This may not seem like a big accomplishment, however I haven’t been actively trying to get followers so I think it’s pretty cool! Some of you lovely people, like me, love reading about different beauty products from around the globe, so today I will be sharing some of my favourite beauty products of this year so far.

1. Clinique anti-blemish solutions toner. I only started using toner this year and I’ve found it’s made a big difference. I explained in a recent post about how clogged pores can lead to acne. What I didn’t know is that even cleansers and other facial products can cause this clogging. Toners free up your pores and really let your skin breathe. Fun fact! I learned recently that vinegar can be used similarily.
2. Skin food foodtherapy stick perfume in Happy Vanilla. Aptly named, since whenever I smell it I feel soo happy :)!! I’m pretty bad at describing smells so you’ll just have to take my word for it – it’s amazing! It helps that it’s solid because with liquid perfumes I always spritz too much by accident!

HAPPY vanilla is right!

3. Clio twisturn liner in brown earth. This waterproof liner glides on easily but takes a lot to come off! I love the colour because it’s dark but not too dark. I’ve always been partial to brown – for years, I only owned brown eyeshadows.

Wow, I never realized how hard it is to take pictures of makeup!

4. Nature republic eco eye crayon in 1호 and 3호. I love these crayons because they’re super easy to apply and they’re so shimmery and soft. The lighter colour I usually wear in my tearduct and along the lower lash line (top pic). The goldish colour I wear on the top lid and sometimes below my eye as well (bottom pic). I don’t usually wear them at the same time cause it’d be shimmer overload!!

Part of my pre-makeup routine!

5. Tony Moly Panda’s dream dark eye corrector. To be honest I was first attracted by the panda on the packaging. How cute!? After a few weeks of using it I did notice a difference in my dark circles! I assume that it’s just a whitening agent, which is contained in a lot of Korean cosmetics, but it does help to concentrate it on the areas you want whitened!

scrub-a-dub-dub

6. My final favourite product (for today’s post) is the Innisfree green tea lip scrub. I never thought of exfoliating my lips before and it’s definitely working! This lip scrubber is more like a brush with plastic bristles. The liquid inside reminds me of vegetable oil… takes yucky but it does the job! I’ve only been using it for a week and my lips have never felt better :)!

These have been my favourite products of 2013. I bought them all in Korea but I think you can buy most of them worldwide. ‘Like’ if you liked this post and want to read more beauty-related blogs!

noteworthy

After only a year and a half in techno-heaven I have finally got myself a smartphone! And not just any smartphone… the galaxy Note 2 is up there as one of the best phones atm.
Coming from my t9 good-for-one-thing phone, this thing is blowing my mind!! I guess the first and foremost advantage is having the nice big keyboard to type on, but thats not exactly cutting-edge technology. The camera is pretty incredible and because the screen is so huge theyre super easy to see and edit. I am using apps like instagram and photowonder for the first time and it is
SO much fun!! Heres an example of photowonder before and after:

Haha I’ve already gotten a bit carried away with it and it’s only gonna get worse ^^! I havent even discovered half of the things this phone can do!
I’m really hoping that it will help me communicate better with friends and family back home. Its a pretty big investment but with free apps like skype and kakao I can communicate with everyone from anywhere!
I hope I can update this blog more frequently now too as it will be easy to upload little snapshots of my life :)!
Ta for now, don’t forget to follow and comment :)♥.

skin for life!

Here are a few very important beauty tips that I have picked up while living in Korea. They’re not necessarily Korean beauty tips, just things that I have become much more aware of since living here.

Here are some simple rules to follow for healthy, beautiful skin :):

1. Don’t tan. Growing up in Canada I believed that being ‘hot’ means being tanned. When I came to Korea I was so proud to be the most tan person I knew. Then I noticed how well people take care of their skin so I started looking more closely at my own skin. I noticed spots and wrinkles and damage that I really hadn’t noticed before. The idea is that being tanned makes your body look more defined and slimmer. Well… it does make a marginal difference but being tan does not make you hot. If you’re slim and pale you’re going still going to look slim, and vice versa. But tanning CAN make the difference between getting skin cancer and not. I have opted to stay out of the sun and stick with my natural skin colour.

I’m not sure who’s acting is worse but I do know whose skin I would want!!

2. Be good to your eyes. I shudder to think of how I used to remove my eye make-up. I used to just wash my face then literally rub it off with my finger or dry tissue. I’ve worn make-up for almost 10 years now so if you think about how much I was tugging at the sensitive under-eye skin each day there’s no wonder I have wrinkles! I now remove my make-up properly using make-up remover and a soft tissue. I gently apply wrinkle eye cream twice a day and I try to avoid rubbing my eyes as much as possible. I think it is helping a lot and hopefully I will preserve my under-eye skin for the next ten years!

I know it looks funny but I would actually take off my make-up like this! :S

3. Moisturize moisturize moisturize! Moisture does not equal oiliness. Whenever I used to get a pimple I would avoid moisturizing that area of my face because I thought it would make it worse. Moisturizing can actually help prevent pimples. When your skin is too dry (most acne medication dries out the skin) it is more susceptible to bacteria getting into the pores. If the pores are already sealed with moisture there is less chance that bacteria will form (that’s my understanding of it anyways).

What a pimple looks like under the surface.

4. Get to know your products. In Korea when you buy cosmetics the store will always give you tons of free samples. I love getting these because it means I can test out a product before I commit to buying the whole tube! In Canada I would often just buy whatever product was the cheapest or that my friends were using. Now I consider what I want the product to do, and how it looks and feels on my face before I add it to my daily routine.

Ok, this one was free but it’s so silky smooth!

5. Drink up! Your body requires water to carry out every single molecular process. This includes everything from digesting the hot dog you just ate to fighting off diseases. Your body needs water to break down unwanted cells (ie. bacteria in your pores…), repair damaged cells and create new ones. Over the past few months I have made an effort to drink a lot more water. I try to keep a full cup of water on my counter and take a drink every time I walk by it. I have to pee a lot more often but I have noticed a difference in my skin!

Don’t you want your skin to look like that!?

I don’t look too happy here but my skin looks all glowy and such :)!

That’s all I’ve got for now! If you want more advice, I’d suggest searching the World Wide Web. It’s great! ^^

 

SNSD – I got a boy

 

Girl’s Generation is BACK in full force!!
In true GG style, they are back to all fighting over one not-even-cute boy. I was pretty confused about what the song is supposed to be about after I read the lyrics.

At first they’re talking about a girl who is average-looking who looks way better after she meets a guy:

Gosh! Again look at her, look!
From head to toe, her style has changed
Why did she do that? I’m curious to death
Why did she do that? Tell me.

No way! No way!
She became so pretty and sexy, it’s because of him, right?
I almost asked her what her new makeup was!

But then they’re talking about falling for a guy and being confused about their relationship:

Sometimes he is as reliable as an oppa but when he acts charming, he is so cute

I’m really angry, my boy doesn’t look at me as a girl
What should I do when I feel hopeless?
Should I make him feel jealous? I’m so upset! What do I do?

So what I think they’re saying is that they like this boy and he makes them want to be better and he brings a spark to their eye, to be cliche. But they’re not sure what he wants and they’re frustrated, like most people beginning relationships.

So the lyrics aren’t so deep and meaningful, but generally I like the song. It’s fun and catchy, although I’m pretty sure it’s going to get way overplayed and in a few weeks I’ll be sick of it.

Seriously! If I wore any of these outfits I would look like a complete tool.

What I love about this video are the costumes! I love the quirky girlie outfits at the beginning and my favourites are the funky retro looks during the dance. I thought the costumes at the end with the orange wigs were a bit tacky but overall the clothes were to die for!

Not a huge fan of this look.

What I don’t love about the video (I guess this goes for all music videos actually) is the impossible standards they set for girls. How do they look so incredibly cute yet sexy at the same time? They pull off the innocent vixen perfectly and all of Korea loves them for it! I guess it goes for guys as well. Not many real guys look like TOP and yet most women look to their celebrity crush as their ‘ultimate guy’. I suppose it’s good that the mood of the video is not so “realistic” because in reality NOBODY LOOKS LIKE THAT!

Nope, sorry, not possible.

What made me laugh about this video is the girls’ reactions to the boy touching their hand or their cheek. Um… ladies, you were just hip thrusting like it’s your job and you’re acting as if you’ve never held a boy’s hand before?

Aw, sweetie. Your sparkly nails will not distract us from your mixed messages!

Overall, I loved the video, the dance and the music. They’re still as sexy as in ‘The Boys’ but not so obvious about it. You go, girls!

my merry little christmas

As most of you know, I was stuck in Seoul this Christmas after I was unable to go on my perfectly-planned oh-so-tropical Bali vacation.

A White Christmas not meant to be.

It was a major oversight on my part. Lesson learned: always research the passport regulations of a country before you travel! My passport was only valid for 5 months and Indonesian immigration requires at least 6. So close! I like to think I’m an experienced traveller, having been to 17 countries, so I’m feeling pretty silly and embarrassed by the whole situation. Actually, what I’m feeling most is disappointment at not being able to visit Bali! My Teacher’s College friend Shannon and I were going to have a fabulous Christmas filled with pina coladas and white sand (separately ;P). We searched for hours to find the perfect hotels in the perfect spots, from Kuta for New Years to Ubud and the Gili Islands. Not to mention the sun and humidity would be the perfect cures for my wintertime blues and dry skin.

Snowy Seoul… not impressed.

BUT I will not despair and break down like I did at the airport, subway, embassy and other various public places in Seoul. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? So I will now list the various ‘silver linings’ to my cloudy holiday.

1. I got organized. Like, SUPER organized! I don’t think my apartment has ever been so organized and I am loving it!!

2. I read two novels in three days. One of my favourite things to do on vacation is just lie on the beach with a good book. So I turned the heat up in my room and just relaxed with some light reads!

3. I finally went to the bank with my huge bag of coins. It totalled $52!!!

Yeah… moneybags!

4. I caught up with friends. I sent out a plea for company on Christmas eve and got to have an American-style on base with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. I’ve also been spending a lot of time with my (former) co-teacher who I don’t get to see much outside of school. Lots of food and friends makes any holiday great :)!

A Christmas Eve Feast!

Sarah tried to look like a goober so I tried to look like a rasinette 😛

5. I consumed more chocolate and wine that I have all year. Maybe this shouldn’t count as a plus, but it definitely did at the time! Plus I had time to go to the gym, so win-win!

My post-christmas-eve-feast dessert 🙂

6. I did my first nail art! (See previous blog) ^^

7. Best of all… My DAD IS COMING TO SEOUL!! As soon as he heard I was unable to go to Bali he booked a ticket and should be here tomorrow afternoon! To quote my sister “He’s really taking this YOLO thing to a new level”!  WOWEEEEEE! I am so excited to show him around and spend time with him!

Me and Dad in 2010. Can’t wait to ring in 2013 together!

I feel much better after writing this. So often we (well.. I know I do) focus on our disappointments and forget to count our blessings. Merry Christmas everyone!!

fantastic baby!

Big BANG! R-L G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Seungri, Daesung

I haven’t written anything about K-pop for a while so I thought I’d let you all know how super-duper incredibly pumped I am to see Big Bang live in concert! At the moment my favourite K-pop group is on a world tour promoting their album ‘Alive’. Their last concerts are going to be in Seoul at the end of January. Tickets go on sale soon and I’m not too worried about getting them as I don’t think they’ll completely sell out because there are three shows during the weekend.

Seeing them at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong (on TV of course) made me sooo much more excited to see them live! I think it’s going to be an amazing show! Here is their performance from MAMA:

I love how they all have their very distinct characters. Top is always so pompous sophisticated with his giant hats and capes. I think they were trying to show his inner wild side through his crazy contact lenses. GD is just a born entertainer and I think the most talented member of the group. He actually changed his hair colour during the award show (when he accepted his first award it was bright yellow)!! Seungri is always the classic gentleman, although the Japanese tabloids would have us think otherwise. Taeyang is the party animal always bopping around full of energy. And then we have my precious Daesung… personally I don’t think the mesh/fur/leather ensemble suits him at all. On TV he is always so sweet and bubbly but I guess that didn’t match their ‘monster in me’ theme. I think he looks a bit lost here and that the costume people just threw as much as they could on him trying to make him look cool. Nevertheless, he’s still my fav!

No matter what they boys are wearing, I’m positive they’ll put on a FANTASTIC show and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us :)!

So excited to get my CRAYON with G-D!

teacher teacher!!!

Woohoo!! Another blog post! Be prepared for lots of cute kiddie pictures!!

If you or anyone you know is considering teaching abroad, I’m sure you have many questions. Fear not! Getting a job teaching kindergarten in a hagwon (private academy) is easy as recruiters are paid to find teachers from overseas. From there, you can look into other opportunities such as teaching at an international school or university. It’s difficult to get teaching jobs in Korea other than hagwons but if you’re qualified then go for it! If you are at all considering coming to Korea, here are some pros and cons of teaching at a hagwon that might help with your decision.

Seriously, do I really need to convince you? How cute!?

Pros: 

Let’s start with the obvious. Working with children is the career I always dreamt of and what I hope to do for the rest of my life. Even if being a teacher or care-worker isn’t your goal, working with kids is probably the most rewarding work you can do.

Smiling faces every day 🙂

Money. I could have put this as a con because the salary of an English teacher in Korea is not very substantial. However, if I was back in Canada, I would probably still be looking for a job or substituting. A small, steady paycheck is a lot more than most people can say they have. With the money I’ve earned, I have been able to pay back my (small) student loan and save enough to travel southeast Asia for 5 months all while feeding my shopping addiction. In my books, that’s more than enough.

Another pro – gifts from the rich mummies and daddies!

Teaching experience. It’s an easy job to get and if you’re not sure if you want to get into teaching, it’s a great opportunity to try it out and see if you think it’s a good career choice for you. Plus, if you’re at home in Canada trying to get a job, wouldn’t you rather be working with kids than waiting for that phone call?

Who wouldn’t want to teach these guys!?

Life experience. I don’t have to lecture you on the benefits of travel and living abroad. Just do it. Living in another culture is the most mind-broadening, exciting, humbling and educational thing you can do for yourself.

Bumped into one of my students while hiking!

Cons:

Management. Now, I don’t want to burn any bridges here because my bosses have always been good to me, however there are certain things they do and that I hear most hagwon managers do that are just not ok. First of all, they always side with the parents. Just one example… a student of mine went home and told her mother than my co-worker and I were laughing at her how old her mother’s car is, which is of course untrue. Instead of telling the mother, how ridiculous that sounds and that she has faith that her teachers aren’t pretentious dickheads, our supervisor told the mother that she would talk to us about this ‘incident’. Basically there is no support or trust between the teachers and management. Our school has 3 bosses, and if you ask the three of them the same question, you will get three very different responses. There is no clear direction that the school is following and no consistent policies to refer to. I could write an entire blog on this subject but basically every school has teacher-management relation problems because the system is so completely different here than at home.

Yawn… nap on the way back from field trip.

Curriculum. The problems of curriculum and management go hand in hand. The people running the school don’t seem to understand how important simple things like learning goals are. Therefore, we’re not teaching with a goal in mind… we’re just having the students fill in workbooks, hoping some of it will sink in. Our students aren’t learning anything valuable such as problem-solving, co-operation or investigation but they can ‘fill in the blanks’ like a pro! There is no balance to the school day – the students sit at desks for 85% of the day (ps. they’re 5), they have phys-ed an hour a week (with no outdoor play area!), math for 15 minutes a day, and the only hands-on activities are too difficult for the students. There is also no rhyme or reason to anything that the school asks us to do. If we weren’t all dedicated, flexible and creative teachers these poor kids wouldn’t stand a chance.

We also teach ESL classes, which would be great if we had time and resources to prepare for it!

Housing. Schools will almost always pay for your accommodation but the accommodation they provide is not always livable. My first apartment was beyond tiny and my friend’s apartment stank of sewage. We have both moved to more comfortable apartments but we were stuck at our old places for months. The school has a certain amount that they allow for accommodation so if the rent is higher than the allowance then we pay difference. Right now I really like my apartment even though it’s still pretty small.

Another con – saying goodbye to your old class is really really sad!!

This is all based on my particular experiences. Maybe other schools attempt to actually follow a curriculum or have a great employer but I have yet to hear of it. Personally, I think the pros way outweigh the cons. Every school and workplace has its problems and no job is perfect. If you are at all considering coming here, my advice is DO IT!

So much fun :)!